


Suit Up

by let2gotwoapplebee2



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Additional Tags Added As Needed, Other, Twin Striders, complicated feelings, superhero au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-16
Updated: 2013-07-22
Packaged: 2017-12-08 16:58:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/763797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/let2gotwoapplebee2/pseuds/let2gotwoapplebee2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The city of Houston is a massive place. Saving the city of Houston is a massive job. However, for the past few years, a super-powered duo has risen to the task, keeping the streets clean and the nights quiet. A storm is coming, though, from the city's underworld. Some would even say it's already here. </p>
<p>With the city's most formidable threat gaining power and Dirk's control over his splintered consciousness faltering, do the Strider brothers still have what it takes to keep the city safe?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Slipping

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea for a while now, but I've been sitting on it until I got out of my writing funk.

The sun rises red-white against the dusty black sky. Fresh light paints the floor and makes everything look a little fleecier, though that could also just be the work of tired eyes. Brewing coffee stings your nose the way sweat stings your eyes- harsh, but comfortingly familiar. He’s just woken up. You haven’t slept yet. You never really sleep. It’s kind of part of the deal. He pads into the gym with a yawn and a stretch. As a passing formality, he suggests that you have yourself a well-deserved lie-down. You shake your head and roll your shoulders out. “Lie-downs” don’t happen, so much as “collapsings.” He sips at his coffee as he unrolls your yoga mats, kicking them open since he can’t be bothered to bend over yet and you join him once you’ve stowed your practice sword. The mats fucking stink because you’re both too busy to do anything about it and it makes Chaturanga miserable, but Sun Salutations are where your day overlaps your brother’s so you find yourself disinclined to complain. 

You close your eyes and let the rising sun bleach your brain, turning everything to white noise. It gets quieter, quieter. Next to you, his breath is a metronome that drowns yours out. Never has there been a steadier sound. Breathing with him, you extend your reach with every exhale. Your fingertips itch to steal the sunlight and your mind stretches, gathering the first sparks of news for the adolescent day. The buzz of your own voice, low and steady and paced with his breathing, lays flat against the bottom edge of your hearing as you mumble your findings, hardly aware of what they actually are. Your mind gets quieter, quieter. He comes to sit on his mat, facing the sun as he finishes his mug. It’s almost silent in the echoing hall of your brain when you Slip. His hand darts out to catch your head almost automatically, but you’re already too far away to feel the impact or warmth. You wish you could enjoy these moments where he saves you from concussions and cradles your head in his lap, but you’ve got a job to do. You’ve got shit to wreck. You’re a hero and your city needs you. 

You’re Dirk Strider, alias Puppetmaster, and you think you might be starting to get tired.

\--

The city likes to call you the Red Knight. You think it’s kind of bullshit, since you’re just Dave, but whatever. Whatever helps them sleep at night. And you do help them all sleep at night. You are the formidable enforcer of the super duo that your fair metropolis has come to rely on. 

You are also apparently your psychic brother’s babysitter. His body lays defenseless in your lap as you stand guard, watching the sunrise while he’s immersed in the city’s terrorbeautiful thoughtscape. He’s pulling up intentions like daisies, gathering information like bushels of apples. It’s the closest he gets to sleeping, body resting while his mind is in overdrive. You’re fairly certain that, if he wanted to, Dirk could get a regular night’s sleep. You’ll likely never find out, though, instead watching over him every morning when he finally deigns to drop. 

You really don’t mind, though. He’s all you’ve got- all you’ve ever really had.

And you’re starting to get worried.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Superhero life isn't all glamor. Well, at least for Dave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm writing things again?

He’s told you before that the city thinks in the most bizarre combination of vibrant colors and dingy greys- that there are enormous towers and broad, grassy fields. He’s mumbled stories about huge fortresses and open-air libraries. There are winding labyrinths and simply paved garden paths that make up the minds of the city. Some people dance and skip and some people sprint everywhere and some simply lay in their own chunk of space. He says it’s beautiful. He says that that’s how the world thinks. 

You don’t believe him.

You’ll let him tell his stories, absolutely, for as long as he likes, but you’re pretty certain that, if that’s how the minds of thousands of people look to him, then he isn’t immune to the influence of his own powers. For you personally, aware of the landscape of your own mind, you know that that cannot be what the minutiae of the minds of thousands looks like. This is how he dreams, though. This is the only way he dreams and you aren’t about to take it away from him. 

You let him lay on you for about an hour, making notes on your phone of anything he mumbles that jumps out at you before carrying him to his bed. Cracking open your laptop, it’s a struggle to do anything particularly productive while Dirk is under. Between cat videos and porn, you almost forget to check in with the police chief and fire off the homework for your online class. Once that’s done, though, it’s back to doing stupid things like checking the tumblr tag for your “alias.” Sometimes, these kids draw pictures of you and your brother, occasionally even just you, and they all amaze you. Then, though, there’s the older set. They still are drawing pictures of you and your brother, but there’s a lot more attention paid to the way your suits cling to your dicks and asses, if they bother with the costumes at all. You’d indulge in a good chuckle at the amount of porn you see if it didn’t come with some pangs of guilt and uncomfortable flashbacks. It’s cool, though. You’re fine. You close the tab and burn an hour apiece on Sudoku and Minesweeper.

Dirk finally comes to about halfway between lunch and dinner. You still haven’t put pants on. He’s trying hard to be disappointed, but he knows you well enough, even without the mind reading, to know that there’s no possible way to shame you for not wearing clothes. The fact that he doesn’t immediately try putting on street clothes before heading to fix himself a light breakfast makes you think your attitude is catching. Following him wordlessly, you keep an eye on what he chooses for food, well aware that he’s faked eating more than once to get you off his case when he thinks there’s more important deeds to be done. 

He’s chopping an apple up, presumably so he can dip it in something. Overcome with a craving for the domestic, you don’t rein in your urge to snake your arms around him from behind, head perching curiously on his shoulder. It’s too intimate and Dirk will be shrugging you off with that apologetic look he always gets, but it’s a nice few seconds. However, the shrug you’re waiting for doesn’t come. Dirk’s eyes close and he leans back against you, setting the apple and knife on the countertop while most of his weight rests against your chest. He heaves one, two, three sighs before righting himself with a slight wiggle out of your grasp and resuming his apple-chopping. You leave a hand on his shoulder just in case and feel a light sway under your hand.

You’re getting very worried.

**Author's Note:**

> Their powers will be made more clear as the story goes on, but they are hardly to a secret and are just extrapolations of their canonical god tier powers, if anyone is curious.


End file.
